NEWS: Declaration @ Various Venues

Declaration is a performance piece that seeks to examine the faces we wear to fit in

By Simon Beckwith
on Monday, May 15th, 2017

Image by Sam Ryley

Developed in association with Salford’s Lowry, Declaration is a performance piece that seeks to examine the faces we wear to fit in, and what happens when our differences are discovered. In consultation with medical professionals and mental health support groups, the stereotypes of ADHD and its diagnosis in the twenty-first century are given comic and candid treatment by writer and performer Sarah Emmott. Herself the subject of differing diagnoses, she weaves autobiographical storytelling, comedy and conversations to take you on a vibrant and daring adventure that urges you to revel in your weirdness and rejoice in your individuality, all the while looking at how being labelled will change you – and how you’re seen by others.

Emmott comments, “I’ve always felt different, but never wrong. I’ve known a lot of people who have battled with their mental health; you never know what happens behind closed doors, so I want to open mine, invite you in with a warm welcome and declare that I’m not ok, with hope that we might be able to talk about it together.”

The tour will be sweeping across the region from Tuesday 16th until Wednesday 24th may – and, with performances in Saltburn, Hartlepool, Barnard Castle, Stockton and Alnwick, you won’t have to travel far to open the door to understanding.